Q4: Do cyclists deserve a good reputation? Yes. Cyclists pose little harm to other road users (Q2 & 3), and cycling is good thing to do for public health and the environment (Q1). Of course, no road user group is without its minority of mavericks, risk-takers and bad apples – and there’s no excuse for irresponsible behaviour – but it’s unjust to assume that cycling harbours more than most. Without forgetting that the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks (Q1), there’s no escaping the fact that cyclists are vulnerable. This makes most of them ride as attentively and carefully as they can, and may explain why they are less likely than drivers to be assigned a contributory factor in collisions between cycles and motor vehicles (Q2). For those who are not attentive and careful, it probably doesn’t matter what kind of vehicle they’re driving or riding: risk-takers will be risk-takers, most likely young men with their “heightened tendency to act impulsively”.26 Yet attitudes to cyclists as a whole leave a lot to be desired. One study from Australia discovered that a significant proportion of drivers don’t even view cyclists as fully human.27 This echoes research from Britain that motorists “tend to classify [cyclists] as an ‘out group’ with significantly different characteristics from most other road users.” It gets worse. Another study found: “Car drivers’ negative attitudes towards cyclists relate to aggressive driving behaviour addressed at cyclists”. The drivers felt the same no matter what kind of cyclist they encountered – Lycra-clad or casually dressed. Why? The authors concluded that attitudes like these are rooted in a sense of attachment to cars. That said, most cyclists experience courteous, considerate and good-humoured behaviour from drivers every day too, so it’s unfair to stereotype them negatively in turn. So, what do we do about all this? •
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We must distinguish misperception and misrepresentation from reality. Statistics prove that people on bikes do little harm in comparison to motor vehicles (Q1), but are more likely to be harmed. Yet, most emphatically, this does not make cycling “dangerous” – motor vehicles/drivers are the “dangerous” party in most crashes, and we need both the public and transport practitioners to accept this.28 The Highway Code and its recent revisions29 need to be communicated effectively because, apart from explicitly expecting drivers to exercise a greater degree of
Transport Select Committee. Road safety: young and novice drivers. March 2021. Delbosc A et al. Dehumanization of cyclists predicts self-reported aggressive behaviour toward them: A pilot study. 2019. 28 This point is made very well in the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety’s (PACTS) 2020 report What kills most on the roads? 29 Cycling UK. Changes to the Highway Code: FAQs. 2022. 26 27
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